


Ozai, Dragon of the West

by isamagicdragon



Series: Abridged Tumblr AUs [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Abridged AUs, Dragon of the West!Ozai, Fire Nation Royal Family, Gen, Iroh and Ozai roleswap AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:48:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24732601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isamagicdragon/pseuds/isamagicdragon
Summary: Ozai is born first - he is Azulon's heir, the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, the Dragon of the West, the most feared general in their army and is a firebending prodigy like none in his generation. It still isn't enough.An abridged AU where Ozai is Azulon's heir instead of Iroh, and its ramifications.
Relationships: Azulon & Ozai (Avatar), Iroh & Ozai (Avatar), Ozai & Zuko (Avatar), Ozai/Ursa (Avatar)
Series: Abridged Tumblr AUs [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1788400
Comments: 21
Kudos: 219





	Ozai, Dragon of the West

**I**

Ozai is the Fire Nation’s only prince for the first twenty years of his life. He is raised for greatness, and he meets expectations — a bending prodigy, an academic and military genius, with the charm and cunning befitting a prince in equal measure. But none of it is ever enough for Azulon. Instead, year after year, Azulon tries desperately for another heir to secure his throne, and Ozai’s mother suffers miscarriage after miscarriage. Eventually, the strength and _worthiness_ of his heir no longer mattered to the Fire Lord only that his heir is _singular_ still, and Ozai can work as hard as he wants but there is nothing he can do to make himself two. 

**II**

Leadership comes naturally to Ozai. He is the army’s youngest captain at twenty, and his first assignment — the capture of the city of Taku — is a resounding success. _An impressive feat for someone so young_ , all the generals tell him, and he returns to the capital riding the high of triumph. But when he arrives, the people are celebrating not for the return of a victorious prince, but for the birth of a new one. He has a brother now, Iroh, and his father ignores his achievement with eyes only for Iroh, the security of the Dragon Throne in the flesh. 

**III**

That marks the beginning of a pattern in Ozai’s life. Iroh proves himself a bending prodigy to surpass Ozai, and none of Ozai’s achievements seem to matter compared to a child’s development. Ozai captures Gaipan the same year that Iroh bends his first flame at four years old. Ozai takes Pohuai Stronghold, the Earth Kingdom’s greatest fortification on the West Coast, the same year that Iroh graduates from the Royal Fire Academy for Boys at the top of his class. When Iroh masters the cold fire at the age of fifteen, Ozai realizes that none of his military accomplishments will ever compare, and so he treks to the ruins of the Sun Warriors’ civilization instead. 

**IV**

It nearly kills him, but Ozai slays the last two dragon masters. _Dragon of the West_ , the peasants call him, cowering in fear as he passes by, dragon heartscales strapped to his back as unquestionable proof of his strength. But when he presents them at court, a sixteen-year-old Iroh questions the wisdom of killing the last two dragons, extinguishing the line of Agni himself, the source of all fire bending. And his father — the man who turned dragonslaying into a sport — agrees. It took one nod for his triumph to turn into shame, in front of his father’s entire court, and Ozai only manages to contain the bitter flames inside him because of sixteen years of practice. 

**V**

The slights stack up — Azulon humiliates Ozai at court for slaying the last dragons. Azulon arranges a marriage between Ozai and a woman he’s never met, twenty years his junior, who has already expressed interest in his brother. And Azulon tells Ozai that his son will not last the night, when Zuko is born with weak lungs. A cursed sign. Ozai stays with Zuko for the entirety of that week out of spite, doing everything in his power to keep his child alive.

**VI**

It’s not long after Ozai has secured his line with an heir that Azulon sends him away again, off to conquer more Earth Kingdom territories since he has already proven himself effective. Ozai quietly seethes — he thinks it’s time for _Iroh_ to prove his mettle, and all he really wants to do is to stay home and teach his son firebending. _But the resistance in Yu Dao will not quell itself_ , his father says pointedly, and Ozai has no choice but to grit his teeth and obey.

**VII**

Ozai is away for months, sometimes years at a time — setting up colonies, defending their borders, and conquering new territories. Each time he comes home, his brother, his wife, and his son become more stranger than family to him. Iroh gains a wife, gains a son, and loses a wife in the space of one campaign. The weeks that he spends with Ursa in between trips to the Earth Kingdom are fleeting, but soon enough he has a daughter as well, Azula, just as strange to him as his son. One day, he comes back to the capital, and realizes that Zuko is twelve, more proficient with the dao than with fire, and more interested in playing with his baby sister and cousin than in the Crown Prince's lessons.

**VII**

_Baby_ sister. When was the last time that Ozai had come home again? He counts back, and the dates line up. But he looks at Azula, who has laughing, golden eyes and Ursa’s beautiful face, and sees nothing of himself in her.

**IX**

The fight is ugly and vicious, and Ozai only manages to stop himself from killing Ursa and his brother because Zuko steps into the room, eyes wide and scared. Azulon is right behind him. 

**X**

Ozai takes Zuko with him to his next sortie in the Earth Kingdom. His brother, wife, and daughter are all at the harbor to see them off, at the order of the Fire Lord — w _e cannot show weakness in our family, not now when so many wish to usurp the throne_ , his father had said. His father in name only, just as his brother, wife, and daughter are his in name only — no true father would allow a betrayal that great to go unpunished among his sons. His only true family is Zuko, and when Zuko looks up at him as their ship leaves the harbor, Ozai sees the betrayal he feels reflected in the eyes he shares with his son. 

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of a series of abridged AU's I published on tumblr but never cross posted to AO3. I hope you guys enjoy it!


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